By Amy Meadows

Serenbe, located just 25 miles outside of Atlanta, is another unique community that has found the perfect balance—this time between nature and city life. “We have been coined many different terms, such as an agrihood, urban utopia, and the growing trend of wellness real estate,” says Steve Nygren, founder of Serenbe, which is dedicated to creating a self-contained and sustainable environment in which to live and work. Currently, the community, which is actually half the size of the inside of the perimeter and sits on more than 45,000 acres of land, has more than 700 residents living in its collection of townhomes, cottages and estate homes. Those interested in calling Serenbe home can choose to purchase a move-in ready property, secure a short- or long-term lease on a range of rentals or purchase a lot for future building. And the building practices found in the community undoubtedly rival those found in the newest and most state-of-the-art ITP residential offerings. “People are surprised by to learn about the extensive sustainable building practices incorporated ,” Nygren adds. “Every building is Earthcraft certified, we have the smallest LEED-certified building in the U.S., home and buildings are geothermal heated and cooled, we plant edible landscape and we have a natural waste water treatment plant.” What’s more, the because much of the land is being preserved, Chattahoochee Hills, the city in which Serenbe is located, has become “an oasis from conventional urban suburban sprawl.”